Creative Technologist

Our mission at Duolingo is to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available. But we’ve got more left to do — and that’s where you come in!

Duolingo is the world's most popular learning app. Beyond our core learning product, we also offer English proficiency testing with the Duolingo English Test, and are bringing new subjects into the Duolingo app, where people can develop their Math and Music skills.

We are passionate about educating our users, making fact-based decisions, and finding innovative solutions to complex problems. We offer meaningful work, limitless learning opportunities, and collaboration with world-class minds. Come brighten your life and over half a billion more!

You’ll elevate the way we use art and animation to make our products more engaging, immersive, and interactive.

This role reports into the Director of Design Infrastructure and partners closely with our Product, Design, Animation, and Engineering teams. At Duolingo, we take pride in our craft and agonize over high-quality design with a user-friendly (and fun) experience for everyone.

You Will...

• Build interactive animations for our Math & Music courses using Rive, in ways that are repeatable & scalable
• Drive tooling improvements that more closely couple our design & animation tools, like Rive & Figma, with our engineering workflows.
• Work with technical animators, producers & engineers to drive efficiency across pipelines that help teams go from ideas to an interactive in-app experience. Things like: pitching and building automated solutions to digital asset management, as well as advising on the organizational structure, naming conventions and technical/performance expectations for animation states.
• Stay on top of feature developments for our most critical tools, like Rive & Figma, and propose projects that can upgrade how we use these tools. Build plugins and write scripts that can make our tools work better for us.
• Test, learn, and promote new tools and technologies to further animation and interactivity in our products. Serve as a point of contract across the business for how we’re leveraging & improving our tooling stack.
• Partner closely with Design Ops, who will use your systems and tools to operationalize creative workflows that unlock high-quality execution. Drive the technical documentation for creative best practices to help teams adopt new tools & technologies.

You Have...

• Experience delivering delightful visuals while adhering to performance constraints, reducing technical complexity while still hitting MVP requirements
• Experience writing plugins, scripts, and tools
• Experience with interactive animation for mobile content
• A minimum of 5 years experience in a role similar to creative technology (technical or procedural animation, scripting gameplay, state machines, etc.)
• Experience succinctly communicating trade-offs, ideas, and recommendations to managers, engineers, and artists
• A portfolio that demonstrates your prototyping savvy
• A demo reel that is no more than 2 minutes long, including a breakdown calling out your work in the reel
• The ability to relocate to New York City or Pittsburgh, PA

Exceptional Candidates Will Have...

• Proficiency in Python, C++, or similar scripting languages
• Experience working at a small game studio, VFX house, or tech start-up
• Experience with Rive
• General 3D Skills like modeling, texturing, rigging, and animating
• An understanding of game design principles and player experience.
• Experience with Maya, Houdini, Toonboom Harmony, or similar tools

Please include a link to your portfolio showcasing relevant work samples. A portfolio submission is mandatory for consideration of your candidacy.

We invest in and support our Duos! This role is eligible for a robust compensation package of base salary, equity, and Duolingo’s world-class benefits. The starting base salary range for this role is, $144,500 - $294,000. Actual salary may vary based on level, work experience, performance, and other factors evaluated during the hiring process.

We will do everything we can within reason to make sure that your interview takes place in an environment that fairly and accurately assesses your skills. If you need assistance or accommodation, please contact your recruiter.

Take a peek at how we care for our employees' holistic well-being with our benefits here.

Duolingo is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

By applying for this position your data will be processed as per the Duolingo Applicant Privacy Notice.